Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Confusionem, the Arid Sky Plains.

It was raining.

The rain was green and smelled like rust. There was a soft hiss as it hit the ground.

Yet a large number of demons had gathered beneath this corrosive rain.

These demons came in all shapes and sizes, and even when they were organized in ranks, they would occasionally bellow and fight each other, engaging in localized squabbles. The rain that could corrode steel had no effect on these demons, with some of them even sticking out their tongues and greedily licking up the drops on their faces. There were also demons that dug holes into the earth, plucking out tiny creatures and putting them in their mouths. One of the more powerful and impatient demons suddenly charged out, grabbing a weaker demon and gobbling them up—such conduct caused an even greater disturbance, but a devil quickly came over and executed the gluttonous demon.

“Anyone who does this again will end up like that!” the devil in charge of maintaining order shouted.

Hiss! The more unruly demons hissed in defiance, but they did not dare to truly resist.

Such incidents were occurring all across the Arid Sky Plains, waves of demons extending to the horizon like fields of wheat.

On the western side of the Arid Sky Plains, a group of cultivators stood on a hill.

Compared to that chaotic demon army, the cultivators were few in number, but they were composed, cold, and organized.

Cai Junyang stood at the front of the group, gazing at that distant demon army. Snorting in disdain, he said, “A lot of filthy, dumb, and wicked creatures. It’s difficult to imagine that such lowly creatures were a nightmare for humanity.”

“That’s because you’ve seen too many demons and have gotten used to killing them, understanding what they are and what weaknesses they have,” Wei Tianchong replied. What was once a good-for-nothing fatty had long ago matured into a leader with the insight and experience of a veteran.

They had gone all around the Primordial Fog Domain for five years. As Wei Tianchong had said, they had seen, killed, and interacted with nothing but demons, developing a thorough understanding of them. Those nightmarish beings were now nothing more than strange creatures with their own desires and weaknesses. If one understood them enough, one would be able to develop methods to target them.

If they returned to the Rosecloud Domain to lead the war against the demons, they would be able to come up with a whole host of brilliant strategies. This was experience nurtured through many years of battle and adventure in the world of demons, and even Tang Jie was somewhat inferior to them in this aspect.

As they spoke, there was a shift in the heavens.

A new demon army had appeared on the other end of the Arid Sky Plains.

Its flags snapped in the wind and its demonic energy blazed and roared.

Vast were their numbers, formidable and savage their appearances, their cruel gazes serving as proof of their ferocity and power.

But in the eyes of the demons and humans that opposed them, this power was an empty shell that was not even worth a glance.

What was truly worth their attention was that existence hidden far behind them in the dark clouds.

“One, two, three… twelve Violet Devil Spirit Clouds. That old devil Libido seems to have taken out everything he has for this battle,” Cai Junyang said with a chuckle.

“But this alone is far from enough,” Peng Yaolong said with a cold laugh.

“Perhaps he thinks it’s enough,” the perpetually composed Wang Posha said. He was the first Immortal from their side to enter the Primordial Fog Domain, and he was the leader of the humans for this battle.

As they spoke, the twelve Violet Devil Spirit Clouds shot to the front of the army, and the giant face of Libido emerged from them.

“Phoenix Demoness, do you dare to duel me!?”

“Dare to duel me!?”

“Duel me!”

“Me…”

His voice resounded through the plains.

Requesting a duel from the start was a psychological play from Demon Lord Libido.

He knew that Demoness God Phoenix herself was not particularly strong, and what she relied on the most were her subordinates, particularly that large group of “demon cultivators” who both possessed formidable strength and were skilled in combination formations. Meanwhile, Libido, having suffered a huge defeat in the Rosecloud Domain and then sent his allies to their deaths there, had few soldiers he could muster. Originally, this had been a plan to weaken his competitors and guarantee his status as ruler of Confusionem, since if he lived, the demons of Confusionem would reproduce, and he would be able to rebuild his army—the Primordial Fog Calamities were both a way to plunder the resources of the humans and a way to control the demon population.

Thus, Libido issuing a request for a duel was a way to emphasize his strength against his opponent’s weakness.

Laughter came from the opposing side. “Demon Lord Libido, this is the battlefield. On the battlefield, it is our armies that vie for supremacy, not individual strength that decides the outcome. If that were the case, then when Tang Jie defeated you, you should have conceded and retreated instead of shamelessly giving chase and losing your whole army as a result.”

Libido scowled. “A good retort, but in the end, you don’t have the guts, right?”

He wasn’t surprised by Demoness God Phoenix’s refusal. It naturally would have been best if she had agreed, but if she didn’t, he could use this chance to damage her prestige. Demons had always respected the strong above all, and a Demon Lord’s strength had a direct relationship to their prestige. A rash brute of a Demon Lord who was extremely strong would always command more prestige than a weaker Demon Lord that had a sharp mind.

Ice Phoenix laughed again. “If Demon Lord Libido wishes to challenge me, I naturally won’t refuse. But my subordinates also wish to have a match with the Demon Lord’s subordinates. As their bosses, we have to come out last, so why not have them fight first?”

“What?” Libido was taken aback.

Ice Phoenix chuckled. “What? Is the mighty Demon Lord afraid?”

In terms of individual strength, Ice Phoenix knew that she was no match for Libido. But when it came to subordinates… with her sharp head and cunning tricks, and also with Tang Jie’s help, she had gathered quite a few capable subordinates, their strength many times greater than that of Libido’s.

If Libido wanted a duel with Ice Phoenix, Ice Phoenix would simply go with the flow and expand the scope of the duels, at the same time striking at Libido’s weakness. Moreover, Ice Phoenix had cleverly put her duel with Libido at the very end. This meant that Libido was bound to lose at the start, and once Libido and Ice Phoenix were going to duel, Ice Phoenix could simply go back on her word and command her army to attack, and Libido wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

Worst of all was that breaking promises was an everyday occurrence for demons. They wouldn’t think that Demoness God Phoenix was weaker than Libido, only that she had played Libido for a fool.

“Cunning woman!” Libido softly cursed.

“So you don’t agree?” Ice Phoenix laughed, and then her voice abruptly turned cold. “What are you waiting for? Today is the day of our decisive battle, the day Confusionem has a new ruler! Charge!”

She refused to give Libido any more time to prepare, and the demonic energy in the sky gathered into a massive hand that sought to crush the demonic army before her.

“Nothing noteworthy,” Libido grunted. His mouth opened, spewing out a hurricane that instantly shredded the hand.

He then opened his mouth again, and two black rays of energy shot toward Ice Phoenix’s army. Two beams of light were fired back in response.

Meanwhile, the demon armies bellowed and howled as they charged forward, the battle officially beginning.

While demons below were locked in gruesome combat, devils dueled above.

The twelve Violet Devil Spirit Clouds flew out. Other than the lead cloud, which was controlled by the True Immortal Libido, the other eleven were all controlled by Earth Immortal devil chiefs.

This was also a sign of the awkward situation Libido was in. As an Archdemon Lord, he should have had several Lesser Demon Lords and several dozen devil chiefs as his subordinates, a force great enough to sweep through a large domain. But he had fallen to such an extent that he didn’t even have a True Immortal subordinate.

In contrast, Ice Phoenix had almost twenty devil chiefs under her. Besides the eleven meant for dealing with Libido’s subordinates, she still had seven for Libido himself.

“Hahaha, Demon Phoenix, you think these seven are enough against me? You really are too naive! Once I kill them all and clean up the rest, this Demon Region will still be mine!” Libido crowed.

Even though his faction was lacking in strength, Libido still firmly believed that he could win all on his own. At the very least, the seven devil chiefs before him posed no obstacle.

He took in a deep breath, and then he unleashed a flood of darkness over the world.

As the darkness engulfed all, a shadow snake began to devour a devil chief: Libido’s Avarice Serpent.

His Avarice Serpent could devour his enemies and convert what it devoured to his own strength, letting him grow stronger through battle. It was this ability that had let him rise up in the last Primordial Fog Calamity and become one of the 99 Archdemon Lords.

With his position on the line, Libido unleashed the Avarice Serpent once more. This serpent was even able to devour Tang Jie’s body to the point where it couldn’t regenerate, so this devil chief was powerless against it. With one bite and a terrible scream, the Avarice Serpent ate up almost half his body. With another bite, it ate up another large chunk, and with one last bite, the devil chief was gone.

All he had to pay as a price was a few painless attacks from the other devil chiefs. With a wave of his hand, the Avarice Serpent bit down on another devil chief and quickly ate him up.

These seven devil chiefs were like children in front of Libido, barely able to delay him at all.

He heartily laughed, “You wicked woman, you really thought you could beat a Demon Lord with just this? Too naive! You should have known that all plans are pointless before absolute strength!”

“Interesting,” Ice Phoenix replied. “What does it mean to be absolute? Is only the power that can win considered absolute? In other words: if I lose, it’s not because I was too stupid, but because my strength wasn’t absolute enough? Then if we turn that around, can’t we say that before absolute intelligence, all power is just empty bluster? Gone with the snap of a finger!”

“Eh?” Libido was taken aback, a sense of danger welling up within him.

And he roared, “What did you do to me?!”

“Just like he said, Demon Lord Libido, you really are too greedy, willing to seize anything that can make you stronger… Anyone who can exploit this habit of yours can easily handle you,” Ice Phoenix chuckled. “You’re sensing something wrong, right? Hmph, are my subordinates that tasty? Since you’ve eaten them, suffer the consequences! Reap what you’ve sown!”

“NO!” Libido threw his head back and roared, a terrifying light erupting from his body.

This was holy light. In the human plane, this was considered the purest energy, but in the Primordial Fog Domain, it was the worst poison!